Talks

SCA Artist Talk | Veronica Ryan

Wednesday, May 21, 2025 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Location: Fullerton Hall, Art Institute of Chicago

Web page: https://scaaic.org/programs-and-events/veronica-ryan


Join the Society for Contemporary Art at the Art Institute for a conversation with Veronica Ryan. Born in Plymouth, Montserrat and raised in England, Veronica Ryan OBE, RA creates meticulously handcrafted work using a wide range of materials, including bronze, plaster, marble, textile, and found objects. Her sculptures and installations examine environmental concerns, personal narratives and memories, as well as the wider psychological implications of history, trauma and recovery.


Veronica Ryan (b.1956) has studied at St. Albans College of Art and Design, Bath Academy of Art in Corsham Court, The Slade School of Art at University College, London, and The School of Oriental and African Studies at London University. Over her forty-year career, she has been the subject of numerous exhibitions and residencies within the U.K., the U.S., and abroad. Her first one-person exhibition was at Arnolfini, Bristol in 1987. Other important one-person shows have been presented at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge (1988), Camden Arts Centre (1995), Aldrich Museum (1996), Salena Gallery, Brooklyn (2005), Tate St Ives (2000, 2005 and 2017), The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh (2011), and The Art House, Wakefield, Yorkshire, England (2017). In 2022, Ryan was included in the Whitney Biennial and awarded the Turner Prize, one of the most prestigious prizes for visual arts in the United Kingdom. Ryan will have a one-person exhibition at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation (March 2024) which will travel to the Wexner Center for the Arts (August 2025). Her work is in many private and public collections such as the Tate Collection, the Brooklyn Museum, the Arts Council Collection, Contemporary Art Society, Sainsbury’s Collection, the Hepworth Wakefield, and the Weltkunst Collection at the Irish Museum of Modern Art.


If interested in attending this lecture, please visit scaaic.org to register and stay up to date on future events.


Image credit: Veronica Ryan (Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: © Anne Purkiss/ Royal Academy of Arts, London)


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